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Trierweiler Visits India After Hollande Split

Valerie Trieweiler has arrived in India, where she is due to make her first public appearances since French President Francois Hollande announced the couple's split.

The former French first lady was greeted by a media scrum at the airport in Mumbai, where she is due to promote a French charity during a two-day visit.

Ms Trierweiler, 48, arrived on an Air France flight just after midnight from Paris for the mission organised by Action Against Hunger (Action Contre la Faim, ACF).

She did not speak to the group of around 50 journalists gathered at the terminal but made her way to a waiting car which was expected to whisk her to the luxury Taj Mahal hotel.

Her entourage reportedly said she was accompanied on her India trip by a presidential bodyguard.

A source close to her told AFP: "She is on good terms with the president and she is better."

Mr Hollande, 59, announced on Saturday he was splitting with longstanding partner after press reports two weeks ago of his alleged affair with actress Julie Gayet.

Ms Trierweiler has not commented on the break-up, apart from a tweet saying: "All my thanks to the extraordinary staff at the Elysee.

"I will never forget their devotion or the emotion of my departure."

She was treated in hospital for a week after Closer magazine published claims about Mr Hollande's involvement with Ms Gayet, and she had since then been holed up in a presidential retreat outside Paris.

In Mumbai, Ms Trierweiler will visit a hospital where ACF has a feeding project for malnourished children and witness a training programme for medical staff, the charity has said.

She will have lunch with the wives of top local businessmen and attend a charity gala dinner at the Taj hotel where she is staying.

The journalist will be shown around the city by French actress Charlotte Valandrey, who is involved in the cause of promoting organ donations and transplants.

Ms Trierweiler visited India in February last year when, accompanied by Mr Hollande, she visited a shelter for street children in New Delhi and spoke of her desire to become a champion of children's rights.

India at the time decided to treat her as if she were the president's wife, resolving a potential protocol headache in the conservative country.

Although they were not married, she had been his partner for eight years and assumed the role of first lady at official functions after he was elected president in May 2012.

Mr Hollande has not denied an affair with Ms Gayet but has so far steadfastly refused to answer questions about his love life.

On Sunday, several thousand people marched through Paris to rally against many of the president's policies - such as last year's law backing gay marriage.

The 'Day of Anger', which ended with 20 police officers injured and 150 arrests after clashes with protesters, also saw many in the crowd complain about Mr Hollande's tangled love life.